Despite higher education, a persistent racial and ethnic wealth gap

ECONOMY
A new study finds that, despite being known as “the great equalizer” for economic mobility, a college degree rarely protects black and Hispanic graduates from an ever-present wealth gap. (NYT, 8/17)

“The long-term trend is shockingly clear,” said William R. Emmons, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and one of the authors of the report. “White and Asian college grads do much better than their counterparts without college, while college-grad Hispanics and blacks do much worse proportionately.”

[…]

There is not a simple answer to explain why a college degree has failed to help safeguard the assets of many minority families. Persistent discrimination and the types of training and jobs minorities get have played a role. Another central factor is the heavy debt many blacks and Hispanics accumulate to achieve middle-class status.

PHILANTHROPY
– TheChronicle of Philanthropy takes a look at how two major foundations – The Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation – are taking very different new approaches to their grant making. (Chronicle, 8/17)